BOX SCORE

BABSON PARK, Mass. - The Babson College women's basketball team finished up their regular season with a 55-40 victory over visiting Mount Holyoke College in a New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) contest at Staake Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Beavers improved to 17-8 overall and 10-3 in the conference, locking up the second seed in next week's NEWMAC Tournament. Meanwhile, Mount Holyoke dropped to 7-18 overall and 4-9 in league play. The Lyons will find out their playoff seeding when the official brackets are announced later tonight.

Saturday's game was also part of the WBCA's national "Pink Zone" initiative for cancer awareness. The event raised over $600 For the WBCA/Kay Yow Cancer Foundation, named after the legendary and inspirational NC State University coach who lost her heroic battle with cancer less than a month ago.

First-years Kathleen King (Framingham, Mass.) and Nicole Wurdeman (Rowley, Mass.) once again paced Babson, combining for 28 points and 18 rebounds in the win. King netted 15 points to go with nine boards and four steals, while Wurdeman added 13 points, nine caroms, and two assists. First-year Michelle Kenel (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) added nine points on 4-of-6 shooting off the bench for the Beavers, while sophomore Becky Bowman (Melrose, Mass.) contributed eight points and three assists.  The contest also featured a brief ceremony honoring the last regular season home game for Babson senior co-captains Leigh Myer (Seattle, Wash.) and Becky Pelletier (Harwinton, Conn.), who combined for three points, two rebounds, an assist, a block, and a steal in the win.

Mount Holyoke was paced by senior captain Katie Austen (Mount Sinai, N.Y.), who finished with 13 points, four rebounds, and six assists in her final regular season game, and junior Erin Cain (Quincy, Mass.), who added 15 points and nine rebounds. The Lyons struggled from the field, shooting just 29.6 percent (16-for-54), while also committing 23 turnovers.

Babson opened the game with a 17-2 run, fueled by eight points from Wurdeman and seven more from King. However, Mount Holyoke slowly chipped away at its deficit over the remainder of the period, eventually going into the half trailing by 10 at 28-18.

The Beavers pushed their advantage to as many as 14 early in the second half, and still led by double-figures, 34-22, with just under 17 minutes remaining. Mount Holyoke then used a 9-2 run to get to within five at 36-31, but that would be as close as the Lyons would get as Babson answered with a 9-2 run of its own to push the lead back to 12 with 7:46 left to play. The Beavers eventually built their largest cushion of the game, 55-38, with two minutes to play before a Mount Holyoke bucket in the final 20 seconds resulted in the 55-40 final.